Done with the tech tree... Dang.

[cephalo]

So I got back from a very fun and productive Duna mission that had a very cool science rover set up loaded with experiments, and even a small mining operation to keep things going. Finished the science tree.

My next mission, to Eve and Gilly, was a puny rocket with a thermometer on each probe to satisfy the contract requirements.

How do you get over that psychological hump once the tech tree is done? Haven't been to the Jool system yet, but I'm sure I could send thermometers there too. Why should I? My sense of accomplishment has evaporated.

[regex]

KSP used to be a purely sandbox game where the player had to set their own goals and figured out what to do, created grand, ever bigger (or smaller) missions. Now that we have a proper career mode people can't seem to figure out how to play the game.

[bitbucket]

Finishing the tech tree isn't the end, it's the beginning. No more grinding science, no more having to make do with lawn chairs duct taped to cans of explodium, the only limit is your imagination and budget. Unfortunately it seems a lot of people start running a deficit with the former once they catch that last carrot-on-a-stick and can't find another.

[Superfluous J]

You have two choices. One has been presented above. The other is to restart and make Jool a pre-finishing-the-tree goal.

Both are valid options, based on what you enjoy.

[cantab]

All these worlds are yours, except Jool. Attempt no landings there.

But as far as stuff the game tracks goes, forget the tech tree, completion is marked in the Science Archives. If you want to fill them out you're looking at Kerbals reaching and returning from every biome of every body. Oh, and hauling an asteroid around with them.

[RocketPilot573]

Once you finish the tech tree, it becomes more of a sandbox. Feel free to explore all the planets, and come up with new ideas. Just don't run out of funds...

[Megadeath]

I'm playing science mode, and also recently finished the tree. Faced my own "now what" hump. My solution was to relax some of the artificial constraints I followed. I now happily time warp entire planetary transfers, don't care if my labs are kept topped up with data, and leave kerbals in the middle of a mission, stuck in tiny capsules, or stationary rovers for months while I go do something else.

Thinking of starting my first real attempt at career, or maybe finally seeing if my laptop will handle mods. Still haven't been to Jool either though, and I wanna.

TL;DR - Sometimes I think I'm done. Then I think of all I haven't done and realise I'm not.

[mikegarrison]

You have several choices with respect to science post tech-tree:

1) ignore it

2) use it as a high score, and see how big you can get it

3) use it as a source of funds

4) try for completing all science in all biomes (or maybe in at least one biome per body)

5) start a new game

6) use a different tech tree, which calls for more science

I usually do #5 and #6, personally. With a touch of #3, too. Except what I do is pick some mods I haven't tried before and run a new game with them. For instance, I had never used Remote Tech before, so I started a new game with that mod. It has been kind of fun to build up a constellation of comsats. But now that I've done that, probably next time I won't play with remote tech, because been-there-done-that. I've never played any of the life support mods, so maybe that will be the next career.

Edited July 19, 2015 by mikegarrison

[cephalo]

Maybe before I get to Jool it's modding time. Maybe I should start over with the TAC mod and have to feed these guys.

[Kryten 2X4B 523P]

For every 1000 science now you've cleared the tree, reward yourself with a new mod, like the mk 4 spaceplane stuff?

[Goddess Bhavani]

What I do is install Near Future Propulsion plus support mods, and start slowly researching the next generation of starship propulsion. There's a lot to get used to and in exchange for superior efficiency, the new engines need their own support infrastructure to function.

It also gives me things to do after I finished with the standard tech tree.

[Evanitis]

Restarted with 50% science gain and extra limitations.

[pandaman]

The fundamental problem is that we all see the tech tree as the 'main goal', as it is the only obvious thing in career mode that marks progression or 'achievement'. When in fact all the tech tree does is provide access to progressively better 'tools' to help achieve the 'real goals' of the space program.

Unfortunately the game does not set any 'real goals' for the space program at the moment (other than contracts, which don't really count as game 'goals') so we are left with sandbox that we had to grind to get to.

Hopefully we will see that aspect of the 'career' game get more attention before too long. Some sort of mission or objective based achievement system would be a good addition, so that contracts and the tech tree become the way to progress towards achieving the main space program objectives.

[r4pt0r]

I am done with the tree. Trick is making your own fun at that point.

My next mission will (try to) fulfill the following contracts:

Plant flag on Vall

Plant flag on Pol

Plant flag on Bop

Explore Tylo (I'll do an unmanned rover)

Explore Laythe (Unmanned Rover again)

Launch a Vall Station (My ship will have all the necessary requirements for that, complete it, move on)

Rescue kerbal from Laythe Orbit

Rescue kerbal from Pol Orbit

Yes It took a long while declining numerous contracts to build that mission profile, but career is what you make of it after the tree is complete.

[Nefrums]

Look in the challenges part of the forum. Lots of fun this to do. Ulitmate Jool 5 etc.

[PB666]

How do you get over that psychological hump once the tech tree is done? Haven't been to the Jool system yet, but I'm sure I could send thermometers there too. Why should I? My sense of accomplishment has evaporated.

Hard mode career.

BTW, if you haven't done them, getting to Moho is a task, and landing on the Joolian moons is a bit of a task. (Theres one like kerbin except no atmosphere so you have to be up on your efficiency to get a good land).

There is also station building,

If you know how to use blender there is also part-crafting and such.

[Goddess Bhavani]

Hard mode -1000 rep, low rewards, 60% science careers are actually a lot of fun. Have to make do with low tech parts for a longer time with slower facility upgrades, and that means moar efficiency needed in each design.

[Thomassino]

KSP Interstellar Extended... the mod of the mods

[FlowerChild]

KSP used to be a purely sandbox game where the player had to set their own goals and figured out what to do, created grand, ever bigger (or smaller) missions. Now that we have a proper career mode people can't seem to figure out how to play the game.

Not everyone enjoys pure sandbox games though. I know I don't, and without an overall structure to things, I'm really just not interested in playing. I didn't even want to purchase KSP until career mode was added, and games like Space Engineers wind up leaving me flat because of the lack of any such structure.

For those of us that feel that way, I really don't think it's just a matter of learning how to play sandbox or what have you: it's just not the kind of game we're interested in playing.

[regex]

Not everyone enjoys pure sandbox games though.

Not every game is made for everybody. It's pretty clear even KSP's career mode tried to maintain its sandbox roots so it's also safe to say that KSP may not be the game for you if you can't handle a sandbox.

Suppose I should just switch to telling people "KSP isn't for you if you can't manage to set your own goals."

[FlowerChild]

Not every game is made for everybody.

Yup, absolutely. That's also a big part of why I mod

Suppose I should just switch to telling people "KSP isn't for you if you can't manage to set your own goals."

Well, I don't think it's so much not being able to manage to set goals, as I'm pretty much an entirely self-motivated individual, as much as it is not enjoying pursuing goals set in that manner within the context of a game. I think when I do that, I tend to switch focus more to real-world goals that I've set for myself as being just as enjoyable to pursue (but more productive), and wind up rapidly losing interest in the in-game ones as a result.

Anyways, I'm sure there's an interesting psychological analysis that could be done on why different people enjoy different kinds of games, but suffice it to say, pure sandbox games have never really appealed to me

[Superfluous J]

Suppose I should just switch to telling people "KSP isn't for you if you can't manage to set your own goals."

You could say that about any aspect of KSP, though. Say, the lack of realism in some parts of the game. It'd be a little blunt to say "Oh you don't like that Kerbin is 1/10th the size of Earth yet has the same surface gravity? Too bad. Go back to Orbiter."

Sadly, a full blown story mode is far harder for mods to implement (going merely by the fact that many desire it yet it does not exist) than something that multiplies everything by 10.

[Wjolcz]

I think contracts should be a kind of career mode extending element, but they don't really feel like it.

[Goddess Bhavani]

You could say that about any aspect of KSP, though. Say, the lack of realism in some parts of the game. It'd be a little blunt to say "Oh you don't like that Kerbin is 1/10th the size of Earth yet has the same surface gravity? Too bad. Go back to Orbiter."

Sadly, a full blown story mode is far harder for mods to implement (going merely by the fact that many desire it yet it does not exist) than something that multiplies everything by 10.

The irony in KSP is that while there are community made contract packs that provide strict progression guidance, trying out one of them made me feel like a story or enforced progression is somewhat out of place in the current Career mode structure. I was given like a half dozen historical solo orbiter missions one after the other while my tech level allowed me to send manned flybys to Mun & Minmus at the time.

Before long, I was wanting the stock contracts back because they were unobtrusive, regularly updated to reflect 'current' or 'near future' spacecraft capabilities. Most of all, I quite liked the "doing as I please and getting funded whichever way" aspect of KSP.

The feeling of re-creating a historical space program using prototype craft that never flew in real life can be somewhat ruined by a story mode that doesn't reflect the essence of spacecraft development in KSP. And that contract pack was extremely well written to boot.

Just my 2c early in the morning and no idea if it even makes sense to anyone.

[Superfluous J]

The irony in KSP is that while there are community made contract packs that provide strict progression guidance, trying out one of them made me feel like a story or enforced progression is somewhat out of place in the current Career mode structure. I was given like a half dozen historical solo orbiter missions one after the other while my tech level allowed me to send manned flybys to Mun & Minmus at the time.

I've had a lot of fun with the easter egg contracts. They're not really a story but they kind of help put some sort of narrative in the game.

The big problem with "tutorial" type contract packs is that the people who will most benefit from them are probably not even aware they exist, as you don't start looking for mods on the first day you install a game.